No Tears in Heaven
by Lovetoread75
Summary: How Johnny met the love of his life.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own The Outsiders**

Friday evening Johnny was on his way to the Curtis. It was Summer, and the air was humid and muggy. The scenery was nice though – green grass and leaves on the trees twirling in a warm summer breeze. Johnny was lost in thought as he was passing by the lot. Suddenly he noticed that someone was there.

As he got closer he could distinguish that it was a girl. She had long wheat color hair and was wearing a plaid shirt and jeans. She was holding something in one hand and was doing something with the sleeves of her shirt. Johnny couldn't tell from where he was standing what she was doing.

Suddenly she moved and fell onto her back. Johnny realized that something was wrong. He ran up to her to see that the object she was holding was the blade which was now to her side and she must've been rolling her sleeves up so she could slit her veins. Both of her wrists were really bloody and her eyes were closed.

Johnny panicked. He used to think of suicide but after the fire he realized that he wanted to live more than anything and now that he'd seen the girl do this he was really shocked. He reacted fast though - he took off his jean jacket and threw it on the ground. Then he tore off the sleeves off of his shirt. He ran up to the girl and wrapped the torn off sleeves of his shirt around her wrists. He made sure they were tight around her wrists to stop the bleeding. He knew he had to get her to the hospital fast. He decided to carry her to Curtis so Darry could drive her to the hospital. She was unconscious.

Johnny was not very strong, but she was kind of small. With some difficulty he picked her up bridal style and started his walk to the Curtis. After a while he started running because he realized that every second mattered. Lucky for him it wasn't very far. The door at the Curtis was unlocked as always, but nobody was in the living room. "Hey Darry, Pony," Johnny yelled, "I need help."

"What's the matter?" Darry walked into the room followed by Pony and Soda. They all stopped right in front of Johnny.

"Who is it Johnny? What happened? Did socs get her?" Darry asked.

"No," Johnny said hurriedly, "I found her at the lot. She slit her wrists. We gotta get her to the hospital."

"Let's go," Darry yelled without any further questions, grabbing the car keys. They all ran to the truck. Darry drove way over the speed limit but luckily they didn't get pulled over.

They ran into ER. Darry was now carrying the girl. Johnny, who somehow felt responsible since he was the one that found her, ran to the front desk. "Ma'am," he said quickly, "we got a suicide attempt. She slit her wrists. She is unconscious." he pointed at Darry who was carrying the girl. Johnny was still panting from running.

"Name and address," the receptionist said dryly.

"We don't know, we found her unconscious. Please we need to hurry."

The receptionist seemed to finally realize the urgency of the situation and called the nurse, and her and a few paramedics placed the girl on the gurney. "We'll take it from here you can wait in the waiting room or you can just leave your phone number and we'll call you and let you know how she's doing." The nurse said. She seemed empathetic to their situation.

"We'll wait here," Johnny said quickly. He looked at her - desperation and hope in his eyes.

They sat down on the uncomfortable plastic chairs. "It's a good thing you found her," Pony said, looking up at his friend.

"I know," Johnny nodded, trying to catch his breath "a few more minutes and she would be gone," his voice quivered slightly as he spoke.

"I wonder what happened to her that made her do this." Soda said quietly, looking down.

"The sad part," Pony said, sadness in his eyes "is that she may try it again. Most suicidal people do."

"Maybe we can find out what happened and talk her out of it," Darry spoke up for the first time, putting a comforting hand on Johnny's shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok here is the next chapter, thank you everybody for reading, following/favoriting and reviewing.**

In a few hours the nurse walked into the waiting room and spoke to them. "She gained consciousness, she's going to be ok. You brought her at the right time. A little more time and it would be too late. You can see her now if you'd like, but only one person at a time. The last thing we want to do is shock her." They decided that Johnny should go. He walked down the empty hallway, passing by the white, cold walls. It reminded him of the time he was in the hospital and it gave him the creeps.

Finally he got to the room. Hesitantly he opened the door and entered the room. The girl was lying on her back her eyes closed, her wrists heavily bandaged. When she heard Johnny's footsteps she opened her eyes. He walked up closer and said quietly "Hi, how are you feeling?"

"Who the hell are you?" the girl shot, pulling her blanket up to cover her face. She seemed really upset.

"I'm Johnny," he said quietly but firmly, "I found you unconscious at the lot, and me and my friends brought you here." He tried to walk up closer, and she pulled the blanket up even more.

"Well, who the hell asked you? I wanted to die" she said bitterly, her voice muffled by the blanket. She sounded desperate.

Johnny frowned and decided not to walk up any closer since she clearly disliked that. "What happened? Why did you want that?" he asked carefully.

"That's none of your damn business." She said staring into the distance and started picking at the bandages.

"Nurse, nurse please help," Johnny yelled and ran out to get the nurse. "She's picking at her bandages she's gonna hurt herself again." The nurse ran into the room – "thanks for letting me know. We are going to have someone sit here with her. Don't worry she's not going to hurt herself again. We won't allow that."

"Thank you, thank you so much," Johnny said looking up at the nurse gratitude in his eyes.

The nurse was fixing the girl's bandages, and Johnny thought it would be best if he went back t to the waiting room. "So how is she?" the guys asked.

"She was upset that we saved her. Wouldn't tell me what happened. She might try this again when she gets out." Johnny said reluctantly.

"Maybe we should bring her to our place," Darry said seriously, running his fingers through his hair "and we'll keep an eye on her."

"Yes I think that's a good idea." Soda approved.

"The nurse said they'll keep her here for a few days for observation but then she can leave." Johnny explained taking a seat next to Ponyboy.

A few days passed by, and Darry got a phone call that the hospital was ready to discharge the girl. She told them her name was Laura, but she wouldn't tell them anything else. "You are the only information we have," the nurse informed Darry.

"It's all right," Darry replied, "we'll pick her up right away." The guys piled up into the truck and went to pick up Laura.

"Who the hell are you?" Laura asked defensively when the guys entered the room. "These are my friends I told you about," Johnny said. "Since it seems you don't want to go back to your family you can stay with us for a while." He said simply and looking her straight in the eyes.

"What are you crazy?" she hissed, sitting up on her bed "I'm not staying with you. I'm gonna go my own way." There was strength and determination in her voice.

"And where are you going to go?" Darry asked, taking a step forward and facing her. He sounded slightly annoyed as he spoke, "what are you going to eat or are you going to try this again?" he pointed at her bandages.

"C'mon," Johnny said soothingly and taking a step forward as well so that he was by her bed on the side opposite from Darry, "you don't really want to die. Whatever it is that your problem is, believe me it's not worth taking your life."

"And what do you know about that? You don't know shit." The girl yelled bitterly looking defiantly at Johnny. There was such a contrast between his friendly, soft expression on his face and hers full of contempt. "You don't know how it is to lose someone you love, and be kicked out of your own house. You don't know how it feels," she yelled again, then all of the sudden tears welled up in her eyes and she started crying. The tears rolled down her cheeks "it's just I miss her. I miss her so much," she sobbed.

"Who do you miss? Do you want to tell us what happened?" Soda prompted softly, and then added "We only want to help."

She sobbed again. "My mother died," she said, wiping her tears with the back of her hand "three months ago and so I was left with my stepdad. He has his own kids that live with us as well. He basically kicked me out saying that I wasn't allowed to stay there with them. So I left, and for the last three months I lived in shelters and outside with other homeless people. I went without food for days. I missed her desperately so I decided I wanted to be with her. She sure is in Heaven and in Heaven everything is beautiful and right. There is no pain or suffering and there are no tears." She finished her story and looked down, her shoulders shaking as she cried.

The sunrays were shining through the window. It was a beautiful day outside. And it was such a contrast between a nice, sunny, beautiful day and the sadness and grief that Laura was going through.

The guys were silent for a moment then Soda spoke up. He was the best at understanding people and making everyone comfortable. "But do you think that's what your mother would want to happen? I bet she'd want you to go on with your life and be happy and have friends and have fun." He said quietly, meeting her gaze. Laura sobbed again and looked down.

"If you want to know the truth our parents are dead too." Soda almost whispered, and a single tear rolled down his cheek. Laura stopped crying and was now looking at Soda intensely. "They died in a car crash," Soda continued, "We know how it feels to lose someone you love, but suicide is not the answer. You should think of all the good things your mother would want you to do."

"I'm sorry about your parents," she said, her voice hoarse from crying.

"I'll tell you what," Soda added, trying to smile "why don't you stay with us for a while until we figure something out." She gave him a hesitant look like she wasn't sure then she finally said, "Ok," and then added, "Thanks that's really nice of you."

"You still don't know our names," Soda said, now smiling widely. "I'm Sodapop," she gave him a puzzled look. "It's my real name," he said proudly guessing what she was thinking. "And this is my brother. He also got a weird name. It's Ponyboy." "It ain't that weird," Pony piped in, and Laura smiled. "And this is Darry," Soda continued. "He got a regular name so it's boring." Soda smiled and Laura smiled a little in return.


	3. Chapter 3

When they entered the house Steve, Two-Bit and Dally were there. "Where you guys been? We've been waiting for a couple of hours." Two-Bit asked taking a sip of his beer. Darry ignored the question and instead moved further away from the door so that Laura could walk in.

"Hi guys this is Laura," Darry said, "she is going to stay with us for a while. Laura this is Two-Bit, Steve and Dally," Darry said. She nodded awkwardly acknowledging them.

A couple more days passed by. Laura started to get used to the guys and her new environment. She was still upset about her mother's death, and the guys tried their best to make her have fun and enjoy life again. They took her to the movies and to the arcade and to the fair.

On Saturday the guys were going to play football as usual. "Do you want to watch us play?" Soda asked, putting his sneakers on. She hesitated a moment then said "Can I play?"

"You play football?" Soda looked up at her surprised.

"Yes," she replied quietly, "me and my stepbrother used to play all the time, and my mother would watch us play."

So they all went outside and divided into two teams. One team - Dally, Pony, Johnny and Laura and the other team - Darry, Soda, Steve and Two-Bit.

Over the past few days Johnny realized that he was starting to like Laura. She was really pretty but it was more than just that. He felt a special connection with her and how she attempted suicide and he almost attempted that too. So he liked her and felt really awkward and clumsy around her. He didn't know what to do or say or how to act. Not even in his wildest dreams he thought she would like him back so he hoped neither her nor anyone in the gang would realize how he felt.

Right now she was on the same team with him, and he felt really out of it. He could hardly concentrate on the game and kept missing the ball. Finally Dally got fed up. "What a hell's wrong with ya today Johnny? You are playing like a girl today," he barked.

"Sorry Dal," Johnny mumbled, looking down.

"Hey," Laura shot at Dallas, "I take offence to that". Dally only smiled slyly in return – "whatever."

Finally Laura passed the ball to Johnny. It was a perfect opportunity to score, but Johnny missed it.

"Damn it," Dally cursed loudly. They lost to Darry's team by 2 points.

"You play pretty good for a girl," Dally said with a smirk to Laura as they were walking back.

"Yeah, you are really good," Soda confirmed running up to them.

"Thanks guys," she said smiling, "I had fun." It was the first time she seemed to be genuinely happy and not thinking about her mother's death since she started living with them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you everyone for reading, reviewing and favoriting/following. To the guest reviewer: I'm glad you are enjoying the story. Johnny is my favorite too along with Ponyboy and Dallas.**

A few weeks passed by, on Saturday night the guys went to the Dingo. The place was foggy from people smoking, and loud clanking of the utensils filled the room. They ordered food. The music was playing loudly over all the noise at the diner.

"Oh, this is my favorite song," Laura spoke up.

"You like Bob Dylan then?" Dally asked, taking a bite of his burger.

"I do," she replied, putting her burger down on her plate and starting to sing along.

"He's all right, I guess," Dally said, a thoughtful expression on his face "but sometimes the way he sings you can't get the words. It's all jumbled up."

"You just got to listen more carefully," Laura laughed in response.

"Anyway I prefer Elvis," he said, dipping his fries in ketchup.

"Elvis's tuff," Two-Bit piped in and then burped loudly.

"For Christ's sake, Two-Bit," Darry scolded, "Watch your manners."

"Excuse me," Two-Bit said slightly embarrassed.

"I like Elvis too," Soda agreed, "what about you Dar?"

"I guess they both are ok," Darry replied and Pony nodded, "Yeah, I think so too."

Johnny didn't say anything and he was kind of looking away. Laura noticed that, but didn't say anything. Over the past few weeks she started developing feelings for Johnny. She liked his quiet, soft demeanor and for some reason she felt a strong bond with him. He never told her about his parents or that he'd considered suicide in the past, but she somehow felt that he'd been through a lot. At first she was confused about her feelings, but then she had to admit that she liked him. She didn't think he would like her back though. And now he was so quiet, but she didn't dare ask why. Instead she continued her conversation with the other guys.

"So what other bands do you guys like?" she asked them.

"I like The Rolling Stones and Simon and Garfunkel " Pony replied, looking dreamily, "they are tuff."

"I think Johnny Cash is a great guitar player and his songs are really good too" Darry said. Everybody started listing their favorite bands except for Johnny, who was still sitting quietly. He hardly said anything and his food was still on his plate and he was looking away.

"What about TV shows?" Two-Bit said putting his empty cup aside. "Mine's…" he didn't get to finish and was interrupted by Steve - "oh it isn't Mickey Mouse is it?" Steve covered his mouth with his hands, "oh no, I gave away your secret."

"Mickey Mouse is the greatest show in the world," Two-Bit said in a very serious tone of voice.

"Yeah, for someone with an IQ of a three year old," Steve snorted.

"Hey watch it," Two- Bit glared at Steve.

"Or what?" Steve snarled.

"C'mon you and me right here, right now," Two-Bit propped his arm on the table. He rolled up the sleeve so everyone could see his muscles. Then him and Steve started arm wrestling. Everybody was watching in anticipation. Steve won. "Whatever," Two-Bit said rolling his sleeve down, disappointment in his voice, "I'll get you next time, and for your information Mickey Mouse is a really good show."

"Aren't' you a little too old for that?" Laura asked, and he stared at her as if the thought had never occurred to him. "You are never too old for Mickey Mouse," he said with finality. "That's not just me talking," he added, "that's just a fact for ya all."

"That's Two-Bit for you," Soda chuckled.

"Don't mind him," Darry smiled, turning to Laura.

They kept talking, but Laura glanced at Johnny, who was still sitting quietly almost all his food still on the plate. She couldn't ignore it anymore "Johnny is something wrong?" she asked, baffled.

Johnny panicked. He hated to be the center of attention. He cleared his throat and said "Wrong? No… n-not at all why?" He seemed to stumble over his words.

"You are awfully quiet and you didn't eat your food." Laura said. Johnny's face started to turn red.

"Yeah Johnny," Dally spoke up, taking the last sip of his coke and lighting his cigarette "I know you are always pretty quiet but today even more than usual and you are not eating, what's going on man?" Now Johnny's face was really red.

"Whatever it is, this will cheer you up," Soda yelled grabbing a french fry from his plate and throwing it at Johnny. "Food fight," he laughed.

"Oh c'mon Soda," Johnny said in a scratchy voice "what are you five?" But he smiled a little.

"Don't c'mon me," Soda yelled throwing a few more fries at Johnny. One got stuck to the collar of his shirt and one landed on his plate.

"You want me to take care of him for you?" Pony smiled and started throwing his fries at Soda, who was now throwing fries at both Johnny and Ponyboy.

"Get him Johnny," Pony yelled when he realized he didn't have any more fries on his plate. Finally Johnny smiled widely and started throwing his fries at Soda.

"Two- Bit, Steve," Soda yelled, "help." He didn't have to ask twice. Both Two- Bit and Steve started throwing fries at Johnny and Pony, laughing uncontrollably.

Darry rolled his eyes – "sometimes I think they belong in kindergarten," he said to no one in particular.

"Oh, loosen up," Laura chuckled and threw two french fries at him. He smirked and threw a whole bunch at her. Soda continued firing fries at Johnny, then Dally took a drag on his cigarette and got up from his seat. He took his plate and walked over to Soda's seat. He came up to Soda and emptied his plate right onto Soda's head. Soda burst into laughter.

Laura laughed and started throwing her fries at Johnny. He laughed also, and started to throw them back at her. "That's cheating," he managed while still laughing.

Everybody stopped, but Johnny and Laura were still throwing fries at each other. Laura was giggling, and Johnny finally looked relaxed and not self-conscious. Two- Bit looked at the two and raised his eyebrows.


	5. Chapter 5

At that moment the door opened, and a group of people walked in. There must've been at least ten of them. They all were dressed really nicely. Wearing sweaters and nice shirts "Look what's coming," Soda said, a stern look on his face. Everyone turned around, and Laura looked confused. "What's wrong?" she asked, putting a fry she was aiming at Johnny aside.

"These are the socs," Pony explained, "the rich kids from the West side. Them and us, we don't get along."

"Are they dangerous?" Laura asked, but before Pony got to answer the question, the socs' leader was by their table.

"Oh my, my look what we've got here," he said to the rest of his guys. "And who is this?" he pointed at Laura, "We haven't seen you before." Laura just glared at him not saying anything.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing with trash like them?" he continued, putting his hand over Laura's shoulders. She tried to shake his hand away and was glaring at him. Then to everyone's surprise Johnny got up from his seat.

"Leave her alone, now," he demanded. Johnny was scared of the socs, but he would never let them hurt Laura. All of the sudden he didn't feel shy anymore. He felt like he was prepared to defend her.

"Oh, what are you going to do little man?" the soc laughed pressing his hand tighter into Laura's shoulder. Then Johnny walked up to him and punched him in the stomach. Then the soc let go of Laura's shoulder and pushed Johnny to the back. Johnny hit his back against a table sending the table and a few chairs flying.

Then Dally got up from his seat. He looked seething. He would not let anybody hurt Johnny. Dally clobbered the soc over the head with an empty glass. The soc took a few steps backwards and fell on the floor. The other socs rushed forward, and started attacking Dally. Everyone got up form their seats and were beating each other. Laura was scared, and was standing in the corner waiting for the fight to be over.

They were knocking tables down, breaking plates and needless to say scaring customers away. Soon the manager of the diner ran out. "Out! Everyone out!" He yelled, "Or I'll call the cops." He didn't need to repeat that twice. Both socs and greasers ran outside and continued fighting. One of the socs tried to get a hold of Laura. She was struggling with him as much as she could. She even bit his hand, but needless to say he was much stronger. Then Johnny grabbed a big tree branch from the ground and hit the soc over the head with all his strength. The soc stumbled and fell. Laura exhaled. Tears were running down her cheeks. "Thank you Johnny," she managed through her sobs.

The rest of the gang chased the other socs and they got into their cars and left. Laura appeared to be in shock and started crying out loud.

"It's over, it's ok" Johnny tried to comfort her. "We wouldn't let anything happen to you." Finally, she stopped crying and thanked everyone especially Johnny."

"So you have fights like that all the time?" she asked while they were driving back. "And it's pretty fun. We always whoop the bastards," Dally said. "They just don't learn their lesson those dumb asses."

Laura frowned. The idea that someone actually enjoyed these fights did not sit well with her. "What's the rivalry all about?" she asked.

"It's like this," Dally explained, taking a drag on his cigarette, defiance in his voice, "They are rich bastards. They have everything they ask for and they are bored with their useless pathetic lives so they jump us greasers for fun. We can't walk alone anymore. They always jump us when they outnumber us. So you shouldn't be walking alone or you are at risk for getting jumped. I saw how those bastards were looking at you. By the way," he turned his attention to Johnny, "good job on hitting the son of a bitch with that tree branch. He fell like a ton of bricks," Dally laughed. Johnny's eyes were glowing - his hero was proud of him and he was able to protect Laura from the socs.

"Yes, thank you Johnny," Laura said, looking up at him "I was scared to death."

"No problem," Johnny said quietly blushing a little.

On Monday night the gang was at the Curtis watching TV. The movie ended, and there was nothing good on. "Poker anyone?" Soda asked.

"Sure," everybody agreed.

"Do you play?" Soda asked Laura. She nodded – "deal me in."

They started playing. Usually Johnny won the most games, but today it seemed Laura beat him to the punch. Soda won a couple of games, and Dally won one, but Laura won all the other games. Johnny didn't win a single game. It was nearing ten p.m. so they would have to stop soon.

"One last game," Johnny asked, hoping to win at least once. He was humiliated by the fact that he didn't win, and on top of it Laura won all the games.

"Hey Johnnycake no luck today," Soda chuckled as if reading his mind, "You've been replaced as a champion man," he patted Johnny on the shoulder chuckling. Johnny blushed and Soda laughed even more. Laura won that game as well.

"You got to watch out for this girl Johnny," Dally said while smirking knowingly and looking Johnny right in the eyes, "she's good at football, she's good at poker. Let me guess," he said turning to Laura, "you used to play poker with your stepbrother all the time." Laura nodded, then she looked down and there was sadness in her eyes.

"What's the matter?" Soda asked, while folding his cards.

"Oh it's nothing," she said, "it's just I miss my stepbrother."

"Maybe you can call him and he can visit you here," Soda suggested, throwing an ace on the table.

"You wouldn't mind?" she asked looking up at him.

"Of course not, why would we mind?"

"Thanks," she said smiling a little.

"Anyway you are really good at poker," Johnny said, still blushing a little.


	6. Chapter 6

The next evening Johnny was staying at the lot. His parents were fighting again, and he had to get out. He made a fire and was sitting next to it watching the flame. He was starting to doze off when he saw someone approaching the lot. As the figure got closer he realized it was Laura. He felt his face turning red. She noticed him and started walking in his direction. "What are you doing here all by yourself? It's not safe walking alone at this hour." Johnny asked trying his best to keep his cool and not make a fool of himself in front of her.

"I just went for a walk to clear my mind, and I could ask you the same thing." She replied walking up closer to the fire. The light from the fire illuminated her face, and Johnny couldn't help it, but notice how beautiful she was.

She was looking at him expectantly and he remembered that she asked him a question. He controlled himself and forced himself to speak. "Well," he hesitated for a moment, "it's different with me. I'm used to this."

"It's still not safe," Laura said, picking up a small tree branch from the ground and tossing it into the fire. She was secretly happy that she ran into Johnny. She had a lot on her mind, and she needed to talk to someone. Someone friendly and understanding, someone like Johnny.

"I guess you are right," Johnny finally agreed. "Anyway what's on your mind?" he asked, looking sideways at her through the fire, "If it's not too much to ask," he added giving her the choice to tell him or not.

"I've just been thinking 'bout my family. My mother, why did she have to die so soon? I hope wherever she's now she's looking down on me."She choked up a little as she was saying that.

"Of course she is," Johnny offered.

"And then I've been thinking I can't stand my stepdad but I was really getting along with my stepbrothers. I miss them you know. Maybe I should've stayed even though he was trying to kick me out, but then I wouldn't have met the gang. I wouldn't have …" she paused for a second then continued "I wouldn't have met you," she blushed a little. "What about you? Why are you here?"

She took a seat next to him, and her hair brushed against his cheek. Johnny felt sweat running down his spine, but he controlled himself and started speaking. "Well," he said, looking down not knowing how to start. "I never told you this but my parents, they are not really good parents. They always…" he paused and swallowed hard, "they always beat me and holler at me. And whenever they are not doing that they are fighting with each other. So today they were fighting with each other, and I just had to get out."

Laura's eyes grew wide and she paled, "Oh my God, I didn't know I'm so sorry," she almost yelled, completely shocked.

"It's ok, I'm used to it" he said quietly not looking at Laura, but staring ahead of him into the distance instead.

"But why didn't you go to the Curtis?" Laura asked after she recovered from the initial shock, "Like you said it's not safe being on your own here at this hour."

"I go there a lot." he replied still staring into the distance, "I don't want to take advantage of them, don't want to be one more mouth for Darry to feed."

"I guess we are stuck here today," Laura smiled a little.

Nice summer air enveloped them, and they were sitting really close to each other. Laura was thoughtful for a moment. She looked Johnny straight in the eyes and said "Here," she looked around, "here is where it happened. Thank you,"

"What?" Johnny asked confused.

"Thank you for saving me that night. I don't want to die now. I'm glad you showed up that day."

"Me too," Johnny said simply. He felt a pang in his stomach just thinking what might have happened if he didn't show up that night. And now he really liked Laura and he would give anything to have her like him back, but that would be impossible, he thought. She would never go out with someone like him, even his own parents hated his guts, there was no way she would like him. He sighed heavily and glanced quickly at Laura hoping she wouldn't realize how uncomfortable he was.

"You know," Johnny said barely audible, his voice quivering as he spoke "I thought about suicide many times, but once I got into the fire and I almost died. That time I realized that I wanted to live more than anything. I realized that it's not worth taking your life no matter how hard living seems to be." She gave him an understanding look, "I know."

Then to change the subject he added, "Sometimes me and Pony stay around here and watch the stars." Laura looked up at the starry sky. "Whenever I look at the stars," she said, "it makes me dream."

"What do you dream about?"Johnny asked before he even realized what he was saying. "You don't have to tell me if it's too personal," he quickly corrected himself.

"I dream about many things," she said. "I dream of reuniting with my mother one day, that the guy I like likes me back," she paused and kind of tilted her head and looked at him. Was she hinting Johnny thought, could it be possible that she actually liked him? "And I dream of being a dancer, what about you? What do you dream about?"

Johnny looked thoughtful for a moment, "I just dream about getting out of this house. Pony found out about this program that the state pays for. It trains you to be a vet assistant. I'm not sure I'll be good at it, but I figured I like animals so I should give it a try. I would never have enough money to go to college and I am…" he paused and then added "I'm not smart enough to go to college anyway." He sighed. "And I also dream about the girl I like liking me back," he looked at her question in his eyes as if to ask her if she meant him when she was talking before. "And," he added with a smile, "I can't dance to save my life." She chuckled, "really?" He nodded.

"Everyone can dance," she said still chuckling, her mood visibly better now that she shared her thoughts with Johnny. "It's really easy c'mon I'll teach you," she laughed. "What now? Here?" Johnny asked hesitantly, and she nodded –"Yeah, now and here." She got up from the seat. He took her hand, and placed his other hand on her waist.

"Make one step to the side," she instructed. He did.

"Now three steps forward," he did that as well.

"Lead me," she instructed, "repeat this three times and then instead of going to the side go backward. So one step backward three steps forward - one, one, two, three," she counted.

"Then do this," she raised his hand and twirled underneath it. They kept dancing there in the light cast by the fire, and Laura felt like she wanted this dance to never end. She only wished that he liked her back and she considered asking him right there and then, but then decided against it.

"So this isn't too hard is it?" She finally spoke up.

"No," Johnny nodded, "I never realized," he said grinning for the first time that evening, "it was this easy."

"Well it is," Laura said smiling. They were still holding hands. Then Laura decided that if she held back she would never know how he felt so she moved closer to Johnny, closed her eyes and started kissing him. He was shocked at first but reacted quickly. He hugged her with his free hand and started kissing her back.


End file.
